Combine-Baler System Now On The Market

Combine-Baler System Now On The Market BALERS Balers Now you can get the combine-baler system you read about in FARM SHOW Vol 33 No 4 Tuthill Drive Systems introduced the Australian innovation at the 2010 Farm Progress show The system has been used for 9 seasons in Australia and 2 in the Palouse region of Washington State Now Tuthill has licensed the technology to put it on the market Bale Direct is a hitch and power transfer system that lets you run your combine and large square baler as a single system It s designed to save time fuel and labor as well as capture crop residue for use as feed or bedding Eventually it may play a role in supplying cellulosic ethanol plants with biomass We introduced it at the Farm Progress Show because it was close to a POET plant that will be making cellulosic ethanol says Darren Foster Tuthill Drive Systems However we don t want it to be considered only for ethanol production We have farmers who want to bale cobs and residue for livestock We even have a company interested in pelletizing the residue for burning with coal The Bale Direct is a bolt-on unit that doesn t interfere with crop harvesting An enclosed conveyer delivers the crop material to the baler without spilling even when the combine is turning A hydraulic motor powered by an independent hydraulic pump on the combine drives the baler You can switch the baler back to a tractor-powered pull-type in about 4 hrs and you would never know it had been used with a combine says Foster Bale Direct conversions require a Class 8 or larger combine and a 3 by 4 by 8-ft baler Kits are available for AGCO Hesston Case IH and New Holland balers and Deere AGCO Case and New Holland combines The Bale Direct system can be set up to gather as much or as little crop residue as desired by the operator says Foster Farmers were worried that it would take off too much residue but at the show we had a Deere 9870 combine and a MF Hesston baler set up to take about a bale an acre he says A second Deere combine was working alongside us and you couldn t tell the difference in residue Originally designed for use in wheat fields in Australia one goal was weed control A tray under the conveyer helps to capture the weed seeds Foster says the tray has to be removed in corn as cobs tend to collect there and create problems We still capture some weeds but not as much as in wheat he says Tuthill is targeting square baler dealers as potential dealers for the Bale Direct system List price for the entire kit needed to connect a baler to a combine is in the $75 000 range Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Tuthill Drive Systems 9098 West 800 South P O Box 600 Brookston Ind 47923 ph 219 279-2801; dfoster@tuthill com; www tuthill com/baledirect

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